Weekly upbeats!

[rabidfoxes]

@TuanJie thank you, I'll be working on it!

[TuanJie]

@rabidfoxes
How's it going with your sense of smell?
I came across some info that might interest you. It's in Dutch, so I put it through Deepl:

UMC Utrecht working on medicine for loss of smell caused by corona

A study is underway in Utrecht to find a possible medication for loss of smell due to corona infection. Two first small studies showed a positive effect, but to be sure it works, research among a larger group of patients is needed, says ENT specialist Digna Kamalski in the NOS Radio 1 News. She leads the research at the University Medical Center Utrecht.

After the outbreak of the pandemic, it turned out that many patients suffer from loss of smell. "At first we thought it might just pass. But in many patients the loss of smell persists. It can last for months or maybe longer and people are very bothered by it."

Researchers found out that the loss of smell has to do with an inflammatory process, but until now there was no medicine for it. The UMC Utrecht is now testing an anti-inflammatory drug, prednisolone, which Kamalski says is the same drug as the better-known prednisone, but marketed under a different name.

It's a heavy drug, but much depends on the dosage, she says. "You can give it short term and high, or very long term and low, and that gives different kinds of side effects. A short course like we give it, the side effects are limited. But for every drug there can be side effects. That's why we're very keen to know whether it actually works."

The anti-inflammatory is now being tested on patients who suffer from loss of smell. After three months, the effect will be measured. "At the moment, about 25 patients have started it, but we need a few more," says Kamalski. Ultimately, 116 patients must participate in order to draw conclusions about efficacy. People who suffer from loss of smell due to corona and want to participate in the study can apply at UMC Utrecht.

Source: https://nos.nl/liveblog/2411820-stre...w-coronaregels
Hyperlink for application goes to (also Dutch): https://www.umcutrecht.nl/nl/ziekenh...orona-infectie

[rabidfoxes]

@TuanJie

Thank you for asking and for taking the trouble to translate the article. I've mostly recovered my sense of smell. It's functional. I can tell if my jeans need to go in the wash (great relief, I was getting my partner to smell my clothes and everything smells fine to him!) and if there's something untoward in the fridge (Camembert is very untoward). Subtler smells still elude me - I can't tell the difference between low and high quality cinnamon powder and playing around with fragrance is not quite as interesting as it used to be. But this is minor. NHS reckons it's best to just wait, they say the longest it might take is 3 years. Can't complain, I got off lightly. Got my booster before NYE as well

[Otherside]

The whole losing smell and taste thing sounds sucky. Glad it is starting to come back though.

Feel lucky that somehow, I have avoided the whole covid thing, seem to be the rarity in my area of someone who is not testing positive on an antigen test (omicron spreading like mad here). I was bolstered last week of November though.

[TuanJie]

@rabidfoxes
Awesome! Hope you get back the full bouquet. Makes life more interesting.

[rabidfoxes]

@Otherside @TuanJie thanks to you both. Stay safe!

[Heelsbythebridge]

I did two loads of laundry this weekend. I usually average 1 load per 1.5 weeks.